BOYCOTT 'POOL' DENIED CAR INSURANCE POLICIES

A white minister charged last night that local insurance firms are indiscriminately canceling policies held by Negroes operating vehicles in a Negro bus boycott pool.

The Rev. Robert Graetz, pastor of a Negro Lutheran church and active participant in the 10-month-old boycott, said the move was designed to break the racial protest.

CHARGE DENIED

But insurance officials quickly denied the charge. Jim Upchurch, president of the Montgomery Association of Fire and Casualty Insurance Agents, branded the claim "absolutely ridiculous."

Agent Terry Mastin said, "it's not true. I haven't heard one thing about anyone ganging up on the car pool operators."

Under the state's driver responsibility law, a drive must be insured for $11,000 to cover any injuries or damages growing out of an accident.

Graetz, whose home was bombed last month, said his own policy was cancelled and that he had difficult finding a company to reinsure him.

Graetz said that the "game" has been going since January with insurance men repeatedly canceling policies on vehicles used in the pool, and owners constantly seeking reinsurance from new sources.

KING DECLINES COMMET

The president of the pool-sponsoring Montgomery Improvement Assn., Rev. Martin Luther King, declined comment; however, he indicated that he knew of the situation.

Graetz said that the cancellation of policies has not cut into the operation of the pool to the extent, which threatens its immediate closing.

Upchurch stated "I never heard of any plot and I never heard any other agent mention it. But the car pool is a taxi-type operation and taxis always have trouble getting insurance.

Upchurch said he did not know who was handling insurance on the car pool vehicles but he understood some of the local companies recently closed under state injunction might have been writing some of the business.